UPDATED: The BlogHer has landed! Announcing our 2006 conference site.

Get ready to party with the BlogHers, because we have secured the perfect spot for our 2006 2-day Conference on July 28th and 29th: the Hyatt San Jose.

Let me introduce you to some of the features of the Hyatt San Jose. First, there are a number of conveniences for BlogHers coming from out of town:

-Only half a mile from the San Jose Airport
-Free shuttle service from the Airport to the Hotel and back
-On-site Hertz rental car center
-Full service Business Center
-2 restaurants, plus room service until midnight
-Free WiFi in all public areas
-In-room high speed Internet
-Full re-model to be completed by the time of the conference
-Pool and whirlpool
-On-site Fitness Center included
-Plenty of free, on-site parking for our local attendees

And, drum roll please, we have been able to secure a rate of only $75/night for BlogHers! We have a block of 200 rooms set aside for the night of Friday July 28th, but the great part is that they will extend the $75 price for up to 3 days before and 3 days after that date for attendees who want to turn their stay into a longer vacation. The deadline for securing this rate is Saturday July 1st, so mark your calendars now.

The reservation number is: 408 993 1234, and they will also be setting up a special web page for BlogHer reservations. Our group name is: BlogHer. Stay tuned for the web link as soon as they set it up.

As for their accommodations for our conference itself, there are a few more details I'd like to share:

-Power strips to every table
-There will be both WiFi and plenty of actual Ethernet connections, to eliminate not only the bandwidth, but also the authentication bottleneck.

And perhaps my favorite feature of all: networking events out on the patio by the pool!! Yes, there is a large outdoor area at the center of all the Day Two meeting rooms...complete with mucho greenery and a large outdoor swimming pool. It's a very tropical feel and should be lovely on an evening in July in California!

We checked out several places for BlogHer this year, including convention centers, but we loved the fact that BlogHer will really be able to take over the Hyatt. We'll be the only event there, and we will probably represent a majority of the people staying there for those couple of nights. So that is why I said the BlogHer has landed...the Hyatt had better ready themselves for a BlogHer invasion in late July!

UPDATED: Everyone is going gaga for the $75 price , so I really have to give credit where credit is due. BlogHer Team member Maria Niles (who organized last year's festive pre-conference dinner) did the legwork on the Hyatt San Jose, and that $75 price was in place before any of the rest of us even checked it out. Thanks Maria!

Sounds like there's enough time for this Canadian to drum up enough money to make the trip. How many Canadian bloggeres participated last year? rough estimates? I'll add this to my blogroll to keep myself updated.